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Barney
Barney and the Backyard Gang is a home video series produced from 1988 to 1991 that launched the stardom of the worldwide popular television show ''Barney & Friends''. The series focused on the adventures Barney and the Backyard Gang take, through their imagination. The first three videos of the series featured Barney with a slightly deeper voice, perhaps larger eyes, a visible red tongue (until 1990), and a much darker color of purple (which turned more magenta as the series went on). The earlier videos from 1988 and 1989 also include actress Sandy Duncan as Michael and Amy's Mom. Music for the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker (as with the television series), while Lory Lazarus wrote the first original song created for Barney, "Friends Are Forever"'', which was sung by Sandy Duncan. Because the majority of the gang (except for Michael and Amy) meet Barney for the first time in [[A Day at the Beach|''A Day at the Beach]], it takes place before ''The Backyard Show''. Three of the videos have the patriotic songs "You're a Grand Old Flag", and "The Yankee Doodle Boy", which are featured on ''Barney Goes to School'', ''Barney in Concert'' and ''Rock with Barney'' respectively. The series, for the most part, was for entertainment, having little to no education incorporated. Some tapes, such as Campfire Sing Along and Barney Goes to School, are really the only ones of the series to touch on educational lessons. All the other tapes only focus on the caring and imagination aspect of Barney. It wasn't until Barney & Friends, when the songs incorporated lessons and morals. The series also released read-along tape books based on the Backyard Gang videos. Jason appeared in the videos until 1990, when he was replaced by Derek in Waiting for Santa. Videos * [[The Backyard Show|''The Backyard Show ]](October 13, 1988) (pilot) * [[Three Wishes|''Three Wishes]] (January 27, 1989) * ''A Day at the Beach'' (April 6, 1989) (Last appearances of Mom, Dad, and Jason, and also Barney's last time being dark purple.) * ''Waiting for Santa'' (January 6, 1990) (Derek's debut, and Barney's first time being a true purple color.) * ''Campfire Sing Along'' (June 8, 1990) (Only appearance of Jeffrey.) * ''Barney Goes to School'' (August 15, 1990) (Last time Barney is performed by David Voss.) * ''Barney in Concert'' (July 29, 1991) (Baby Bop's debut, and the first time Barney is performed by David Joyner.) * ''Rock with Barney'' (October 20, 1991) (series finale) (Last appearances of Amy and Adam. The rest of the gang went on to appear in the first season of Barney & Friends.) All eight videos were re-released in 1992, and five of them were re-released in 1996. Two of them, Waiting for Santa and Barney in Concert, were also re-released by Lyrick Studios, in 1997 and 2000. There is currently a petition to get the videos, along with early (if not complete) seasons of Barney & Friends, re-released on DVD. Previews Almost every video in the Backyard Gang series contained previews at the end of the tape. These previews would show other videos in the series. Different previews would show depending on the tape version (Sandy Duncan or Barney). For any re-release after 1992, the previews would show Barney home videos released that year. Sandy Duncan Versions In the Sandy Duncan tapes (which were the original released tapes), Sandy Duncan gives a brief intro and outro speech. In the intro speech, she usually talks about how happy she is to be apart of the project, and the values children will get out of these videos. In the outro speech, she shares information about other videos in the series. Unlike the Barney previews, the following previews actually show scenes from each video: #The Backyard Show Preview #Three Wishes Preview #A Day at the Beach Preview The Sandy Duncan versions lasted until 1989, when Duncan left the series. Barney Versions After Sandy Duncan left the series, Barney took over the previews in 1990. He usually start off with, "Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the show! Here are previews from some of my other videos." The Barney previews would only show one song from each video: #Campfire Sing Along (S'Mores) #The Backyard Show (Six Little Ducks) #Three Wishes (Mr. Knickerbocker) #A Day at the Beach (Swimming, Swimming) #Waiting for Santa (The Elves Rap) #Barney Goes to School (If All the Raindrops) However, there was not a Barney in Concert preview or a Rock with Barney preview in any of the tapes. The 1992 copies of Barney in Concert and Rock with Barney were the only tapes in the series (including re-releases) to not show any previews at the end. However, the original 1991 copies did show previews. On the orignal prints such as Waiting for Santa after the previews, Barney would ask the parents if they would like the child to be a part of the Backyard Gang. The child would need to send a five-minute long video audition tape. Barney Songs That Debuted During This Series Barney Songs that are Bolded are songs that appeared more than once. Barney Songs that are Bolded and Underlined have been used after 2002, and are still ocassionally used on the show. #'Barney Theme Song' #Hey, Hey, The Gang's All Here #'I Love You' #Hello, Hello, Hello #'The Rocket Song' #Friends Are Forever #Barney Is Our Dinosaur #This Is The Way We Walk The Beach #Are You Hungry? #Swimming, Swimming #This Is The Way We Leave The Beach #Waiting for Santa #S-A-N-T-A #'Winter's Wonderful' #'Skating, Skating' #The Elf Rap #Let's All Do A Little Tapping #'Clean Up' #I'm Being Eaten By A Tyrannosaurus Rex #'S'Mores' #Tell Me Why #I Wish There Was School Every Day #'Look Through The Window' #'There Are Seven Days In A Week' #'The Alphabet Chant' #'The Weather Riddle Song' #'The Shape Song' #'Hug A Color' #'What I Want To Be' # Three Bears Rap ' # The Goodbye Song # 'Everyone Is Special #The Backyard Gang Rap #'We Are Barney & The Backyard Gang' #'Where Is Thumbkin?' #Baby Bop's Song #'Bubble, Bubble Bath' #'Hurry, Hurry, Drive The Firetruck' #'Help Protect The Earth' #'Me And My Teddy' #There Are Fifty Stars On Our Flag (aka My Dear Country) #'I Can Laugh' #'Good Manners' Reception The series made more than $3.5 millon. The first three tapes alone sold 50,000 copies. Notes *In the first five videos, "I Love You" was sung at the beginning. However, it was sung at the end of Barney Goes to School and Barney in Concert and is frequently sung at the end of Barney & Friends. *In 1990, The Disney Channel aired episodes from the Backyard Gang series as part of its "Lunch Box" program. *The series was a huge success in Dallas, but only a moderate success throughout the rest of the country. *Jeffrey appeared in the 1990 video Campfire Sing Along, temporarily replacing Adam. See Also * ''Barney & Friends'' - The TV series that came after this video series.